Hillbilly Elegy

because the county filled its World War I
draft quota entirely with volunteers—the
only county in the entire United States to
do so. Nearly a century later, and that’s
the factoid about Breathitt that I
remember best: It’s the truth that
everyone around me ensured I knew. I
once interviewed Mamaw for a class
project about World War II. After
seventy years filled with marriage,
children, grandchildren, death, poverty,
and triumph, the thing about which
Mamaw was unquestionably the
proudest and most excited was that she
and her family did their part during
World War II. We spoke for minutes
about everything else; we spoke for